By Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian
(Reuters) -The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 rose in choppy, range-bound trading on Monday as investors looked forward to a raft of upcoming triggers such as Big Tech earnings, a Federal Reserve policy decision on interest-rate cuts and key labor data.
Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon.com <AMZN.O>, Microsoft and Meta Platforms were flat to 1.2% up, but off the day's highs.
Tesla was the top megacaps gainer, up 5% after Morgan Stanley added the EV maker's stock to its "top pick" U.S. autos' list.
Coupled with a 4% rise in McDonald's after a sales beat on its $5-meal deal, launched late in June, Tesla's gains helped the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary index rise 0.9%, topping sectoral gainers.
At 11:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.65 points, or 0.01%, at 40,586.69, the S&P 500 was up 13.41 points, or 0.25%, at 5,472.51, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 58.40 points, or 0.34%, at 17,416.28.
In a major test for markets, investors will parse earnings from Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Amazon.com starting on Tuesday, to gauge if the AI-led equity rally has room to grow.
Technology behemoths have dominated Wall Street's record-breaking run, prompting investors to start turning their attention to laggards such as mid and small caps, which are expected to benefit from a low-interest-rate environment.
However, the small-cap Russell 2000 dropped 0.8% after three straight weeks of gains.
The three major U.S. stock indexes jumped more than 1% on Friday after hopes of an early monetary policy easing were boosted by an encouraging U.S. inflation report, close on the heels of recent data signaling a loosening jobs market.
However, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed the week lower after a disappointing start to tech earnings prompted the indexes to log their steepest one-day slide since 2022 on Wednesday.
Hopes are now pinned on the Fed signaling a rate cut in September in Wednesday's policy verdict, with odds of a 25-basis-point reduction standing at 90%, according to the CME's FedWatch. Any hawkish commentary at this stage could put equities under renewed selling pressure.
"The continued phraseology will be getting close to where we want to be, but just not there yet," said Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management.
"You'd expect the Fed to continue to pause for now and then potentially set (rate-cut expectations) up for September, although in my opinion (it) is still December."
A slew of employment reports this week, including the Non-farm Payrolls, will be scrutinized for insight into a somewhat easing labor market.
Crypto stocks Coinbase Global, Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital also fell around 2% each, after jumping in early trading as bitcoin prices touched a seven-week high.
Abbott Laboratories dropped 1.3% after a jury ordered it to pay $495 million in damages in a trial that found the healthcare company's formula for premature infants had caused a dangerous illness.
Onsemi jumped 13.3% after a marginal second-quarter results beat.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.23-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and for a 1.67-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 29 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 106 new highs and 51 new lows.
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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